Pocket construction



"" i3 H. B, WELCH if" POCKET CONSTRUCTION Filed April 3, 1955 INVENTOR.

ATTRNEY.

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istituito rl il UNSlllU'lldlil He h. elch, est Bend, Wis., assior to l a ty heather lructs ilo., est henri, la., a corporation oi Wisco Application .dp i935, Serial. lilo.. Matti "i @la i i ".lhis invention relates to "sipper clret constructions for hand bags, pocket books and other article containers.

The general purpose and object of my invention is to provide an improved means for automatically spreading apart the side walls or the poclret as the slide of the zipper fastener is] moved to one end of the pocket in opening the same.

il further object of my invention ls to have the wall spreading means resilient and disposed to operate transversely of the pocket, whereby said spreading means may be employed with a pocket having an eirpansible or distensible wall section at one end.

il further object oi my invention is to provide the wall spreading means in the form of a pair of outwardly bowed spring strips, preferably hat, and connected together at one end, and applied to the pocket with the joined ends of the strips at the bottom oi the poclret and their tree portions secured to and extending crossvme ot the side walls of the pocket toward its ripper end, whereby the strips will be under tension when the pocket walls are closed and secured together by the zipper".fastener along their upper edges and will autotically den outwardly into divergent relation to spread the poclret walls when released by said iastener on @pen 1i, g the pii?.

Irlire invention consists further in the features hereinaiter described and claimed.

the accompanying drawingsz illig. i is a perspective view of a ladys hand bag provided with a zippe pocket construcp tion equipped with the wall spreading means of invention;

lilig.. i is an enlarged top plan view of the poolret shown in open position;

l'ig. d is a vertical sectional view talren on line iii-ii of Fig. 2;

lllg. i is a horizontal sectional view talren on line ill-i of i'lig. 3; and

iilig. 5 is a perspective view of the wall spreading device removed trom the poclret.

nllhe hand bag, shown in llig. l, has a zipper poclret construction located in the body of the bag between the iront and the rear walls l, i thereof, and secured to the side walls i, d which are in the form of errpansible gusset sections, as shown. Vlf'he poclret construction preferably entends to the bottom of the bag and in addition to provlg a relatively large zipper poclret wit the body of the bag, serves as a partition t (lili. ld-mit) element to divide the bag body into a nber of article receiving compartments.

The zipper pocket is comprised of side walls t, t which extend between the gusset sections i, il of the bag and have their side edges secured, as by stitching l, l, in channel formations t, i in the gusset sections, as shown. The wall t is provided at one end. of the pocket with an expansible or distensible gusset section t which increases the length of said wall and enables 10 the pocket to open wider than should both walls be substantially equal in length. The gusset i folds between the walls i, t when the latter are in closing relation, and said walls i, t are secured together adjacent the gusset by stitching it, as 15 shown in Fig. 2.

Strips of zipper fasteners il, il are. secured to the poclret wall t, t along their upper edges and these fasteners are engaged and disengaged by a slide li, as common in these constructions. 2o The fastener strips extend the full length of the mouth opening of the poclret, the gusset i terminating short of the strips so that the slide ii may pass over the gusset when closing the poclret. The slide may be equipped with a pull 2s tab li, as shown.

Associated with the pocket walls t, t is the spring device of my invention, which device, as shown in the drawing, comprises a pair of outwardly bowed spring metal strips it, iii. These au strips are secured together at one end, as shown in Fig. 5 and normally tend to spread apart in divergent relation as shown. The strips ill, it; are secured to the poclret walls t, li in transverse relation to their upper edges and automatically to spread these walls apart to open the poclret as the slide ii is moved to disengaging position as shown in llig. 2. For a poclret with a distensible end wall, as shown herein, the spring device is most edective when secured to the pocket io walls adjacent the gusset t or other expansible section provided for the end of the pocket.

The spring device is secured to the pocket walls with the free ends of the spring strips li, lli' adjacent the upper end of the pocket and with L5 their joined ends adjacent the bottom of the pocket, as shown in Fig. 3. rllhus, as the slide li is moved to open the pocket, the spring strips Vare freed to separate the poclret walls and open the pocket to the fullest extent by the time the slide reaches the limit of its opening movement. The spring strips extend substantially the full height of the poclret walls from the bottom to the upper edges thereof and thus edectively 55 spread the walls and distend the gusset 9 as the slide is moved to pocket openingposition.

The spring strips I4, I may be secured to the pocket walls in any desired manner. In Figs. 3 and 4, I have shown the strips encased in the pocket walls, each strip being located between the inner and the cuter portions I6, I'l of its associated wall. The strips are held in place by stitching these wall portions together along the opposite sides of the strips as indicated at I8, I8 in Figs. 2 and 4. In actual bag making, the hems thus provided are formed first and the spring strips are inserted from the bottom or lower edge of the pocket. This opening is then closed in any suitable manner, and the spring device is thus held in place. The upper ends of the hems are closed where the zipper strips are secured to the wall sections, or independent fastenings may be employed if desired.

The spring strips I4, I5 may comprise separate members in which case they would be secured together at one end by riveting or by a holding clip. When the strips I4, I5 are integrally connected, as shown, they are bent into the form shown in Fig. 5 from a single length of the desired spring strip material. Instead of metal forthe strips I4, I5 any other desired resilient strip material may be employed. Regardless of the material employed, the strips are preferably flat so as to lie in the planes of the associated pocket walls. The zipper fasteners are usually mounted on fabric strips which are stitched to the pocket walls 5; 6 along their upper edges and project above the same so that the pocket walls will not interfere with the movement of the slide I2 in opening and closing the pocket.

The wall spreading device, shown and described, is simple in construction and effective in use. It readily flexes, both when opening and closing the pocket by the slide I2. Its tension is suihcient to immediately and fully open the pocket as the slide is moved to pocket opening position, yet its tension is not so resistant that the slide cannot easily close the pocket. With the tension applied transversely of the pocket and at one end, the pocket walls 5, 6 are held more or less taut when open, and buckling or curling is avoided, as the slide is moved to close the pocket. This promotes a smooth and easy action and also the opening movement is greatly facilitated by this outward tension applied transversely of Vthe pocket walls. With the' pocket opening automatically as the slide is moved along the upper edges of the pocket walls 5, 6, the operator is not required to spread the pocket walls by hand and thus scratching of the hand or catching of the clothing in the zipper fasteners Il is avoided.

My invention is applicable to zipper" pocket constructions for all uses, and I do not wish to be limited to`its application to hand bags as herein disclosed. Moreover, my invention is applicable to any pocket fastening means which has a progressive action in opening and closing the pocket along the mouth opening thereof and I so use the term zipper fastener herein. The details of construction shown and described may be variously changed and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention except as pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A pocket construction of the character described, comprising side walls connected together at the ends and along the bottom of the pocket, interengageable fasteners secured to the side walls along their upper edges, a slide oooperating with said fasteners for progressively engaging and disengaging the same in closing and opening the pocket, and resilient means extending crosswise of and engaging said side walls between their upper edges and the bottom of the pocket to automatically spread the walls apart on their release by the slide in opening the pocket.

2. A pocket construction of the character described, comprising side walls connected together at the ends and along the bottom of the pocket, interengageable fasteners secured to the side walls along their upper edges, a slide cooperating with said fasteners for progressively engaging and disengaging the same in closing and opening the pocket, and resilient strips extending crosswise of and engaging said side walls between their upper edges and the bottom of the pocket for automatically spreading the walls apart on their release by the slide in opening the pocket.

3. A pocket construction of the character described, comprising side walls connected together at the ends and along the bottom of the pocket, interengageable fasteners secured to the side walls along their upper edges, a slide cooperating with said fasteners for progressively engaging and disengaging the same in closing and opening the pocket, and an outwardlyI bowed spring stripextending crosswise of and secured to one of said side Walls between its upper edge and the bottom of the pocket for automatically spreading said Wall from the other wall when released by the slide in opening the pocket.

4. A pocket construction of the character described, comprising side walls secured together at the ends and along the bottom of the pocket, one of said walls having a gusset section at one end of the pocket, interengageable fasteners secured to the side walls along their upper edges, a slide cooperating with said fasteners for progressively engaging and disengaging the same in closing and opening the pocket, and resilient means engaging the side walls along the gusset section to automatically spread the walls apart and distend the gusset section as the walls are released by the slide in opening the pocket.

5. A pocket construction of the character described, comprising side walls secured together at the ends and along the bottom of the pocket, one of said walls having a gusset section at one end of the pocket, interengageable fasteners secured to the side walls along their upper edges, a slide cooperating with said fasteners for prog-ressively engaging and disengaging the same in closing and opening the pocket, and outwardly bowed spring strips secured to the side walls adjacent the gusset section and extending along the same for automatically spreading the side walls apart and distendng the gusset section as the upper edges of the side walls are released by the slide in opening the pocket.

6. A pocket construction of the character described, comprising side walls secured together at the ends and along the bottom of the pocket, interengageable fasteners secured to the side walls along their upper edges, a slide cooperating with said fasteners for progressively engaging and disengaging the same in closing and opening the pocket, and a pair of outwardly bowed spring strips secured to said side walls in opposed relation, said strips extending crosswise of the side walls and secured togetherat the bottom oi'.- the pocket tl'or automiatically spreading the side walls apart when released by the slide in opening the pocket.

'L A pocket construction of the character described, comprising side walls secured together along the bottom of the pocket and at one end thereof, a gusset section connecting the side walls at the opposite end of the pocket and foldable into the pocket between the side walls, interengageable iasteners'secured to the side walls along their upper edges, a slide cooperating with said fasteners for progressively engaging and disengaging the same in closing and opening the pocket, and outwardly bowed resilient strips se cured to the side walls adjacent the gusset section and extending along the same from the bottom toward tine upper edge of the pocket to automatically spreadthe side walls apart and distend the gusset section on opening the pocket, said strips and said gusset section terminating short of the fasteners whereby the slide may move over the gusset and the strips.

HMB/IAN B. WmiCH. 

